wwebradyfandomcom-20200214-history
The Mega Powers
The alliance between Hogan and Savage began at the October 3, 1987 taping of Saturday Night's Main Event. Savage was in the middle of a fan favorite turn when he sought to win the Intercontinental Championship from The Honky Tonk Man. When Savage hit his diving elbow drop finisher on Honky Tonk for the pin, The Hart Foundation (who at the time were villains, all three managed by Jimmy Hart) came in and attacked Savage, getting Honky Tonk disqualified. When Honky Tonk shoved Miss Elizabeth, who was trying to stop them, she ran away to the backstage area; meanwhile, Honky completed his attempt to break his guitar over Savage's head. Shortly afterward, Elizabeth returned with Savage's former rival Hulk Hogan, at the time WWF Champion, who came and saved Savage from the assault. Afterwards, Savage extended his hand in friendship to Hogan, who accepted and the three paraded around the ring with their hands adjoined. Their alliance solidified Savage's change into a fan favorite, which had been brewing for weeks as fan support grew for him. Later that night, Hogan stated that the combination of "Hulkamania" and "Macho Madness" may become the most powerful force in WWF history. Hogan and Savage teamed for one match -- a handicap match at a non-televised house show, pitting them against Honky and the Hart Foundation. Hogan and Savage won, and nothing more was made of their alliance for several months. The Mega Powers officially formed as a tag team at WrestleMania IV, after Hogan helped Savage win the WWF Championship in a 14-man tournament. The tournament was made after Hogan lost the belt to André the Giant at The Main Event on February 5, 1988. Andre promptly sold the belt to "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, causing WWF President Jack Tunney to strip André of the belt. Hogan and André were both given byes in the first round of the tournament, fought to a double-disqualification in the quarterfinals. This had the side effect of giving Ted DiBiase a bye in the semifinals. Ultimately, Savage and DiBiase met in the final match of the tournament. The "Million Dollar Man" did all that he could to take out Savage (including the constant interference of André, who was acting as DiBiase's second for this match) but he couldn't keep him down. Savage eventually went to Elizabeth, whispering something to her. She ran backstage, as the fans were trying to figure out what was going on. A few minutes later, Elizabeth reemerged with Hogan. André and DiBiase seemed shocked by the turn of events. Hogan got revenge on DiBiase by hitting him in the back with a steel chair while André had distracted the referee by preventing Savage from getting to the ropes while locked in DiBiase's Million Dollar Dream. Savage was able to hit his diving elbow drop finisher and got the three count. After the match, they celebrated as a group. A few months later, with Hogan on leave of absence from the WWF and Savage feuding with DiBiase over the title. DiBiase and André attacked Savage during an interview segment, prompting Savage to challenge the two to a tag team match versus him and the partner of his choosing, which was accepted. Savage then revealed that his partner would be the returning Hogan. They let all wrestling fans know that they have become The Mega Powers and that they would meet André and DiBiase at SummerSlam. Their debut match as a tag team was at SummerSlam in 1988. They went against André the Giant and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase in a match billed as "The Mega Powers versus the Mega Bucks". Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a longtime supporter of Savage's but a longtime adversary of Hogan's, served as referee for this match. The match didn't go as planned for the Mega Bucks. Elizabeth exposed her assets in skimpy panties after stripping off her skirt to the heels, resulting in the Mega Powers coming back to win the match. Ventura counted but stopped at two because he hesitated, so Savage forced the three-count. After SummerSlam, The Mega Powers were on top of the wrestling world. However, the two had an uneasy relationship, particularly when it became obvious Hogan would act friendly and/or protective toward Elizabeth. On two occasions on Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan was insistent on Elizabeth appearing at ringside for his matches versus King Haku and Akeem. In the latter instance, Elizabeth's was endangered by Akeem and his allies, Slick and The Big Boss Man when Big Boss Man grabbed Elizabeth and placed her in handcuffs; before Big Boss Man could use his nightstick to strike Elizabeth, Savage ran out and made the save. While Savage showed concern for Elizabeth, he disregarded Hogan, who was still reeling from being attacked by Haku and Akeem. At the 1988 Survivor Series, Hogan and Savage captained a team that faced a five-member squad headed by Big Boss Man and Akeem (whom by now were being billed as the Twin Towers). Hogan and Savage eventually won the match (last eliminating Haku; Big Boss Man and Akeem had been counted out and disqualified, respectively); during the post-match posing, Hogan again began acting friendly toward Elizabeth, visibly annoying Savage. In a post-match interview, pro-heel commentator Jesse Ventura interviewed Savage, playing up Savage's growing anger regarding Hogan's behavior toward Elizabeth. However, Elizabeth was not the only reason Hogan and Savage had issues with each other during their stint as a team. At the 1989 Royal Rumble, Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage in the Royal Rumble match when he went to put out Bad News Brown (with whom Savage was having a concurrent feud). The two appeared to make amends at the behest of their manager, but Savage was clearly upset after the event (which was ultimately won by Big John Studd). Things came to a full boil on NBC's prime-time special, The Main Event on February 3, 1989, when the two wrestled The Twin Towers. During the match, Akeem threw Savage out of the ring. Savage was thrown onto Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious. Hogan saw what happened and carried Elizabeth from the ring to the medical area. When Elizabeth was revived, she implored a distraught Hogan to return to the ring to help Savage, who had been left to fight the two gargantuans on his own for several minutes. Hogan eventually called for the tag, but Savage, who was furious with being abandoned during the match, slapped Hogan in the face. After some choice words to a confused Hogan, he took his World Title belt, and stormed back to the locker room. Hulk Hogan defeated The Twin Towers by himself. After the match, Hogan went to check on Elizabeth. Macho Man was back there too, who was caught in mid-tirade yelling to Elizabeth that as world champion he was tired of taking a backseat to both Hogan and Elizabeth in the Mega Powers pecking order. Upon Hogan's arrival, Savage turned his frustration to him, accused Hogan of trying to steal Elizabeth from him, and manipulate the belt away from him. Hogan implored Elizabeth to try and talk some sense into him before Savage attacked him by hitting him in the face with the title belt, sealing the end to their partnership and beginning their feud. Hogan's first response to Savage's actions was to challenge him at WrestleMania for the WWF Championship, which Savage eventually accepted. Most of the leadup to the match involved two things: the first being Savage showing (heavily edited and out of context) footage to prove that Hogan "lusted after" Elizabeth, after which Hogan would respond by showing the footage in its proper context and with explanation; and the question of whose corner would Elizabeth be in. Elizabeth ultimately announced she would be in a neutral corner. On April 2, 1989, Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage, decided to settle the score at WrestleMania V for the WWF Championship. Although Elizabeth was stationed in her "neutral corner" for the match, she was eventually ejected from ringside after too many complications were caused by her attempting to assist both men at different points in the match. After an even match between both, Hogan eventually prevailed after kicking out of a Savage's diving elbow drop before "hulking up" and executing the leg drop to become WWF Champion for the second time. The two would continue their feud in the months following WrestleMania. Savage eventually replaced Elizabeth as his manager with Sensational Sherri and aligned himself with Hogan's co-star from the movie No Holds Barred, Zeus. This extension of the angle would culminate at SummerSlam when Hogan and Brutus "the Barber" Beefcake (with a return appearance by Elizabeth) would defeat Savage and Zeus in the main event, and a December 1989 cage match between the two teams during a pay-per-view event entitled No Holds Barred: The Match, The Movie. Savage and Hogan would meet one last time for a WrestleMania V rematch on the February 23, 1990 edition The Main Event with Heavyweight Boxing Champion James "Buster" Douglas as the guest referee. Hogan would come out victorious yet again with Savage knocked out by Douglas post-match. By this time Savage had become the "Macho King", with Sherri as his Queen, after having defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan for his King of the Ring crown. After his feud with Hogan came to a final conclusion Savage began a rivalry with The Ultimate Warrior, costing him his WWF Championship against Sgt. Slaughter at the Royal Rumble in January 1991. Savage and Warrior would face off in a retirement match at WrestleMania VII, which Savage lost. After the match Queen Sherri turned on him, which caused Miss Elizabeth to come from the crowd and save Savage. The actions turned Savage into a hero again, and he left the ring with Elizabeth to a loud ovation from the crowd. After that Savage became a commentator and while he generally supported the faces, he would make subtle potshots at Hogan. Later that year, Hogan was a guest on Paul Bearer's Funeral Parlor interview segment. When Hogan was attacked by The Undertaker and Ric Flair, Savage and Roddy Piper saved Hogan from the beating. While this did not officially reunite the Mega Powers, they had (in storyline) become amicable (if not friends) again. Savage returned to wrestling in 1992 and he and Hogan both competed in the 1992 Royal Rumble, but in terms of storyline the two more or less did not cross paths for the rest of either wrestler's tenure with the company; Hogan left the WWF in the summer of 1993, while Savage departed toward the end of 1994. Category:Tag Team